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. . . RAs with minoritized identities may be expected to conform to racialized
and gendered roles for the benefit of their dominant identity peers,
supervisors, and/or residents.
Together, this literature forms the empirical foundation of the present study and
recognizes a need to better understand the well-being experiences of RAs with minoritized
identities. Through this paper, I sought to fill this gap in the literature by examining
the following research question: How do RAs with minoritized identities consider
their well-being while serving in the role?
METHODS
This qualitative study explored the well-being experiences of RAs with minoritized
identities through a constructivist paradigm. Constructivism was useful in executing
the present study because of its intentional focus on understanding individuals'
multiple realities (Schwandt, 1998) in ways that counter homogenization (Duran &
Jones, 2019).
Participants and Data Collection
Data was collected through single semi-structured individual interviews with 21 RAs
studying at four different predominantly white institutions located in the United
States (see Table 1, page 132, for demographics). Interviews lasted about an hour and were
audio recorded and then transcribed. Interview questions explored RAs' experiences
of well-being and the ways they engaged in well-being strategies. The sample for this
study was heterogeneous; more than half were women, two-thirds had one or more
minoritized racial and/or ethnic identities, and one-third identified as LGBTQ. Participants
represented various experience levels and had served in the RA role for anywhere
between one and three years. Other details about this sample and its limitations have
been written about elsewhere (see Schuster & Stalker, 2022).
Analysis
I conducted interpretive thematic data analysis (Saldaña, 2016) to generate themes
using asset-based thinking and recognizing the uneven and underlying power dynamics
(re)produced within occupational contexts and higher education environments
(Charmaz, 2017; Smith, 2020). This meant that I analyzed participants' descriptive
narratives in ways that considered the broader systems and structures that produce minoritization
and considered participants' exposures to trauma to emanate from these
larger forces. To reach these conclusions, my analysis involved iterative phases that
heightened my critical thinking in unpacking my research question. While each stage
of the analysis involved a degree of fluidity, the general pathway I took began with
spending significant time reading, rereading, and thinking about interview transcripts,
bracketing my own preconceptions along the way (Bazeley, 2013). From there, I engaged
in several rounds of descriptive and analytic coding to organize and sophisticate
trends recurring within the data (Saldaña, 2016). In my coding, I was closely focused
Volume 49, No. 3 * 2023 131

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